


Nose Knows

by sedna_mode



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Fix-It of Sorts, Gen, Humor, Slight canon deviation, bets and challenges, hunk is amazing, my take on that one scene from the new comic, team voltron shenanigans
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-04
Updated: 2017-10-04
Packaged: 2019-01-09 03:58:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,861
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12268416
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sedna_mode/pseuds/sedna_mode
Summary: Following a one-off comment from Hunk about how good his sense of smell is, the team devise a challenge to test him. The only thing is they... forgot to involve Hunk himself. Good thing he's always up for a challenge, and Hunk is good.And he knows it.





	Nose Knows

**Author's Note:**

> So I got inspired after reading the new issue of the Voltron comic this morning, so here's my take on that [one scene](http://ace-pidge.tumblr.com/private/166054098916/tumblr_oxbk4rxMse1vxdch9) from the beginning! Hope you enjoy ^.^

“Hey, Hunk?” Shiro rapped his knuckles on the doorframe to the main pod hangar.

“I'm under here,” Hunk's voice drifted over from where he was half-buried in an open ship, muffled like he was holding a tool in his mouth. Knowing Hunk, he probably was. “What's up Shiro?”

“So uh... earlier, when you were bragging about your sense of smell.” Shiro rubbed at the back of his neck, awkward. “How, uh, how serious were you being?”

That got Hunk's attention. He slid out of the pod, wiping greasy hands on a rag as he got to his feet to fix Shiro with an appraising look. Shiro wilted slightly.

“Are you insinuating that I was lying? Or that I was exaggerating? I thought you of all people would know by now that I don't 'brag' Shiro.”

Shiro grimaced, chastised, but then his grimace turned into a slow grin, a teasing glint in his eyes.

“Oh yeah? Need I remind you of the Rolo and Nyma incident?”

Now it was Hunk's turn to wilt.

“Okay, so, maybe I do brag a bit. But not about my abilities. If I say I can do something I can do it.”

“That's good. Great even. Exactly what I wanted to hear.”

Hunk narrowed his eyes.

“Shiro, what did you do.”

“Oh I mean, uh, it's silly really, and anyway it wasn't just me, the others jumped on it too so. But you don't have to go through with it if you don't want.”

“ _What did you do._ ”

Shiro started, and looked anywhere but at Hunk.

“I—we... kindamadeabetwiththeAlteansthatyoucouldmakeitthroughtheinvisiblemazeonsmellalone.”

“I didn't catch a word you said.”

“I said,” Shiro repeated, finally making eye contact, “that we kind of bet the Alteans you'd be able to navigate the invisible maze on smell alone. Like if there was some dish or something in the center of the maze you'd be able to get to it without someone guiding you through.”

Hunk raised an eyebrow.

“I said it was silly! You don't have to go through with it, of course. It's just. After you left to work on the pods Pidge started musing about how good your nose really is, wondering if you'd be able to identify this or that with a blindfold on, or find something hidden in someone's room. And then Coran said that was easy, anyone could do that. And then Lance—you know how he is about challenges—said he bet you could get through the invisible maze without help on smell alone. And then Allura said that's impossible, and Coran said the only people who have made it through the maze alone are ones who have done it for years and years and memorized all the patterns. And he went off on a tangent about how when he was young he memorized the maze and made it through in 40 ticks, which is a record that has never been beat to date. And that was it, you know? Official challenge. Keith said he bet you could equal that, and then I, uh, kinda made it worse by saying I bet you could not only equal, but outright beat Coran's record.”

Shiro trailed off, rubbing the back of his neck again. “Wow, when you put it like that it's a pretty dick move isn't it. Us making a bet about you when you aren't even there to have a say in it.”

Hunk blinked, dazed after that barrage of explanation. Shiro winced, and began turning away, waving a hand in dismissal.

“Ah forget I said anything. It doesn't matter, we got carried away. I'm sorry.”

“Wait! Wait wait wait wait.” Hunk grabbed at Shiro's arm, preventing him from leaving. “You didn't even let me say anything. So if I understand correctly all I need to do is make it through the maze in under 40 ticks?”

Shiro nodded.

“And what are the stakes?”

“If you win we get a one day vacation once this whole mess with Zarkon tracking us is sorted out. Anywhere we want to go, with no training or simulations or anything like that for a whole day.”

“I like the sound of that. And if we lose?”

“Allura gets to take over our training for a week.”

Hunk paled. “A week?! Isn’t that a little unfair, one day vs one week?”

“You try talking her down, see how that goes for you,” Shiro shrugged. “It was either that or increase the number of training sessions we have in a day. Permanently.”

“Someone needs to explain to Allura how bets work,” Hunk said weakly.

“Let me know how that works out.”

Shiro put a hand on Hunk’s shoulder. “You’re under no obligation to do this, Hunk. Especially since it’s something we went and did without you.”

“Shiro. I appreciate it, but you know how Lance gets about challenges? I’m ten times worse. I’m in.”

* * *

From the observation room overlooking the training deck Pidge surveyed the maze. Everything was set up, the pie Hunk had insisted on baking himself using only the finest and most expensive ingredients—payback for the team making the bet without him—sitting pretty in the center.

“The shoomfruit pie is in position,” declared Pidge.

“I can smell it!” Hunk’s voice crackled over the room’s speakers. He was waiting in the training deck’s antechamber, cut off from the maze itself until the ticker was started.

“And soon you’re going to see it,” said Pidge, finger poised over the start button. “Players, are you ready?”

The rest of the team were in the lounge, where they’d be able to watch the whole thing on massive floor-to-ceiling screens.

“Ready,” reported Allura.

“Let’s do this,” said Keith, excitement tingeing his voice. He and Allura each held little slips of paper bearing the terms of their respective team’s bets. The Alteans had insisted everything be done in proper order, which included putting the bets in writing and having everyone sign in agreement with them.

“Get hungry, Hunk!” Lance cheered.

“Copy that!” came Hunk’s voice over the comms.

“But not too hungry!” Coran grumbled. He had been peeved that these upstart humans were aiming to beat his longstanding record.

“I don’t follow…” said Hunk.

Before anyone could say anything more Pidge interrupted.

“I’m going to start the ticker in five, four, three, two one… go!” She pressed the start button and the training deck doors opened, allowing Hunk into the room. At the same time a small icon appeared at the top of the biggest screen in the lounge, counting the ticks. The comms were shut off, so that everyone in the lounge could hear Hunk but he could no longer hear them. He was on his own except for Pidge, up in the control room.

“There you are!” exclaimed Hunk, catching sight of the pie. “Come to pap- uhhnff!”

In the lounge everyone winced as they watched Hunk run headlong into an electrified wall.

“Ah, he got too excited there,” remarked Coran.

“Come on Hunk, focus.” Shiro was staring intently at the screen.

“Right. Maze. Okay.” Hunk picked himself back up and took a second to gather himself, closing his eyes to concentrate. “Focus on the smell. You have the best nose in the universe, time to prove it. Focus…”

Eyes still closed Hunk started moving forward, navigating his way down invisible corridors, always moving closer and closer to the center as he muttered encouragements to himself.

“That’s incredible, he’s actually doing it!” Coran’s voice had lost its grudging tone, shifting to pure awe.

“I’ve never seen anything like it,” said Allura.

Lance whooped. “That’s my Hunk for you! Go buddy go!”

Hunk had almost reached the center of the maze, only one wall separating him from the pie. He opened his eyes.

“I have arrived,” he declared triumphantly, “now you are mi- aaugh!”

Thrown out of his groove by his encounter with the wall Hunk cast about, trying to figure out which way to go to get around it.

“No. Noooo!”

“Thirty ticks…” came Pidge’s voice.

In the lounge, everyone shouted over each other, forgetting Hunk couldn’t hear them.

“It’s ok,” said Keith, “slow down, Hunk, get back into it.”

“But not too slow!” called Lance.

“You can do it,” encouraged Shiro, “get that pie!”

“Aargh I’m so close! I won’t fail here!”

Hunk backed up as far as he could in the invisible corridor and took a running leap, grabbing hold of the top of the wall separating him from his goal. He roared as the electricity coursed through his body but didn’t let go, pulling himself up.

“Oh my stars,” said Allura, hands over her mouth. “What is he doing!”

A tense silence fell over the group in the lounge as they watched Hunk climb the wall, sparks and flashes of electricity enveloping his body.

“Almost! There!” Hunk groaned as he crested the wall. He dropped heavily on the other side and lay motionless for a tick.

“Is he ok?!” yelled Lance.

Shiro started moving toward the door, calling out to Pidge as he went. “Stop the clock, Pidge, we need to-”

“Shiro, wait,” interrupted Keith, “he’s up!”

Indeed, on the screen Hunk had surged to his feet, launching himself at the pie and lifting it over his head.

“Score one for Hunk!!”

“Thirty-eight ticks! You madman, you did it!” Pidge shouted over the comms, ecstatic.

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

Shiro crossed his arms, smug. “Told you he’d make it to the pie in under forty!”

“That’s amazing,” said Coran. “If Zarkon were a shoomfruit pie, Hunk could defeat him single-handedly.”

Lance considered that. “If Zarkon were a pie, he’d be lemon meringue.”

Keith snorted. “Why lemon meringue?”

“I hate lemon meringue.”

Allura giggled. “I think we can decidedly say Hunk just beat your maze-solving record, Coran.”

“I’m not convinced on the legality of going _over_ walls,” Coran sniffed. “Defeats the purpose of the maze, I say.”

“Hey now,” interjected Shiro, “the terms were reach the pie in under forty, which he did.”

“I must agree,” said Allura, and she turned to hold out her betting slip to Keith, “Hunk won fair and square, as you humans say. Even if his method was… a little unorthodox. We’ll start discussing that vacation once everyone’s back together.”

* * *

Later, Shiro found Hunk in the dining hall, seated at the table with a blanket around his shoulders and tucking happily into a piece of his hard-earned pie. Lance and Pidge were sitting quietly on either side of him, Lance amusing himself by feeding crumbs to the mice and Pidge watching something on her tablet; Shiro assumed it was the footage from the afternoon’s maze challenge.

They all looked up when Shiro entered. “There he is, the man of the hour.”

Hunk grinned at him. “Hey, Shiro.”

“You’re really something, you know that Hunk? How you feeling, Coran get you checked out?”

“Yup, I’m all good.”

“You know, for a second there I almost thought you wouldn’t make it.” Shiro shook his head in disbelief. “I can’t believe you actually climbed one of those walls.”

“What can I say, you know how I am about challenges.”

Shiro laughed. “Remind me to never underestimate you.”

**Author's Note:**

> [Come yell with me about Hunk on tumblr!](http://ace-pidge.tumblr.com/)


End file.
